April is kind, pretty, and relatively normal - yet she can't seem to get past date five. Every time she thinks she's found someone to trust, they reveal themselves to be awful, leaving her heartbroken. And angry.

If only April could be more like Gretel. Gretel is exactly what men want - she's a regular everyday manic pixie dream girl next door with no problems. The problem is, Gretel isn't real. And April is now claiming to be her.

As soon as April starts 'being' Gretel, dating becomes much more fun - especially once she reels in the unsuspecting Joshua. Finally, April is the one in control, but can she control her own feelings? And as she and Joshua grow closer, how long will she be able to keep pretending?

You know a book is going to be up my street when the first sentence reads ‘I hate men’. I buckled myself in and was excited about what was to come. Yet although I did enjoy elements of the story, it wasn’t an easy read and Holly Bourne’s social commentary on the treatment and expectations of women was actually really quite depressing to read/realise.

I really liked the main character, April, though and although she was struggling with overcoming what her ex-boyfriend did to her, and being constantly let down by the men around her/who she dates, I thought there were also some quite humorous moments. I also really liked that April, a rape surviour herself, worked at a charity that helped other women and men who had suffered abuse or were confused about whether what their partner was doing to them was right. I thought that was a really touching detail for Holly to add in and how this particular job affected our main character April.

It was heartbreaking to read how simple things that I take for granted in my relationship can remind someone else of their awful past experiences and how their trust in anyone is really broken. I think being ‘Gretel’ allowed April to behave in such a way that she thought was her being different but in fact allowed her to learn how to cope/heal.

I also loved how the book took a turn at the end and flipped the narrative to explain that it's not just women who can act crazy during the dating process and men have their struggles and trust issues too. I think the journey that the main character goes through is such an eye-opening read and the explorations in how women date/love was especially interesting and made me question why we always seem to settle for less when we know deep down that we deserve.

There are A LOT of trigger warnings that come with this book so just to warn you that this book discusses sexual abuse, rape and suicide.

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